KSRCollege.Com High School Game of the Week: Bell Co. vs Bryan Station

by:Adam Schilt08/26/12
As part of our neverending goal of covering the events of the state, KSRCollege.com is picking one high school game to cover and feature each week. This week Adam Schilt attended a classic in Lexington that featured one of the more bizarre endings in recent history. Check out his report below and then visit KSRCollege.com, where there has been a lot of great writing this week on all things UK sports: Well, that was intense. The first ever KSR College High School Football Game of the Week could not have been more exciting. In a game that took well over two hours to complete, perennial 3A championship contender Bell County held off the feisty, 6A underdogs from Bryan Station on Station's home turf. The 32-31 victory kept Bell from losing two games in a row, something that almost never happens at Bell. The Cats dropped a tough game at Lex Cath last weekend. For Station, the first quarter and a half or so could not have gone much worse. Although the Defenders didn't cough up the ball once all game long, they found that Bell County's runners were a little too fast and the O-Line was a lot too big. The Bobcats really didn't find it necessary to put the ball in the air very often, as they rushed their way toward the end zone twice in the first two quarters. The Cats found themselves up 14-0 early, and it looked as though Bell might cruise to an easy victory in the first game of the 2012 FCPS iHigh Football Frenzy. Then Bryan Station got to work. They used an impressive drive, culminating in a short option pitch for a short touchdown, to claw away at the lead, making it 14-7 with 6 minutes to go until the half. After a Bell County field goal from short distance as time expired, however, Station found itself down 10 at home at halftime. Then things got interesting. After holding off the Bell County offensive in the third quarter (during which a long BC touchdown run was called back on an illegal block call), Station took over ready to make some noise, literally. The crowd exploded when Station broke a 74-yard run to the Bobcat 6-yard line, punching the ball over the goal line and cutting the lead to 17-14 with just 11 minutes left. This thing was there...I don't really...yeah... Bell County tried to continue milking the clock by running the ball all over Station, but they decided to go for it on fourth down in Bryan Station territory. In a truly horrendous sequence of events for the Bobcats, the Bell County ball carrier fumbled the ball, and the Defenders managed to scoop and scamper 76 yards untouched for the score, claiming Station's first lead of the game at 21-17. I'm still not convinced that the sequence of events that happened next actually happened. On the very next kickoff, Bell County took the ball the length of the field and stole their lead back immediately. Needing just a field goal to tie the game, Bryan Station took over after another failed fourth down attempt from Bell with about 2 minutes left. A suspenseful drive led to a game-tying field goal in dramatic fashion, as the last second literally ticked off the clock as the ball found its way through the uprights. In OT, Station struck first, using all four plays to move the ball 10 yards and past the goal line, but the defensive line continued to struggle against Bell County's strong O-line, and two plays later (one for a 10-yard touchdown run and one for the game-winning two-point conversion) the Bobcats were celebrating a big win on the road. We really couldn't have drawn this up any better for KSR's inaugural edition of the Game of the Week, and both schools represented themselves admirably throughout the game. Some additional notes: --Bell County should be proud of its fan base. There were approximately 200 Bobcats fans that made the trip to Lexington for this one, and one Bell County native told me that this was an extremely poor turnout for a road game, even one that is 2 and 1/2 hours north of home. Add in the fact that Bell already had to travel to Lexington last week (and lost), and it becomes even more impressive that Bell convinced that many fans to make the trip. --The environment was fantastic. Although Station fans were a little quiet at first (they really didn't have much to cheer for in the beginning), their excitement grew as the Defenders made their comeback, and reached a boiling point after the huge scoop 'n' score in the fourth. Also, I have to give a shout out to the BSHS marching band. I usually can't stand high school pep bands, but these guys had it going on. --A yellow go cart delivered the game ball. No, really. I can't make this stuff up. That's all I have for this time. It's been fun, high school football junkies. Bell County moves into the winners' circle of KSR High School Game of the Week alumni, but I had a lot of fun with the good folks at Bryan Station, as well. And a "Defender" is still the coolest mascot around. Until next time. Make sure to keep checking KSR College this week to find out which schools we'll feature in next weekend's Game of the Week. Defender of the Cats for 20 years and counting. @AdamSchiltKSR  

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